In semiconductor devices that integrate a power transistor and a control integrated circuit onto a single semiconductor chip, a connector clip instead of a wire is used to electrically connect a bonding pad in a power transistor formation region with an external terminal or lead. The connector clip has a larger cross-section than that of a wire, and can decrease the power transistor's on-resistance and therefore its power consumption. It is also possible to decrease the wiring resistance for the chip and suppress bonding damage.
Typically, a pick head for the clip bonder machine bonds one connector clip at a time onto a substrate. However, it may sometimes be necessary to bond several connector clips simultaneously to increase throughput when the connector clips are to be bonded in certain fixed relative positions onto each substrate. In that case, the pick head will include a plurality of vacuum collets for picking up multiple connector clips at the same time.
Where the reel feeding orientation is the same as the orientation of the substrate for bonding, the transfer is relatively straightforward as the pick-and-place operation only involves moving the connector clips in a linear motion from a pick-up area to a placement or bonding area. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conventional clip bonding operation of a clip bonder pick head from a clip supply channel 100 to a bonding area 106 wherein the connector clips 102 are picked up and bonded in the same orientation. The clip bonder pick head picks up a plurality of connector clips 102 from the clip supply channel 100 and transfers them linearly 104 to the bonding area. The clip supply channel 100 may typically be in the form of a reel holding an array of connector clips 102 in a fixed orientation, a lead frame or other transportation means. The connector clips 102 are picked up in the fixed orientation and moved to the bonding area 106 in order to bond the connector clips 102 onto a substrate (not shown).
However, a machine that is designed for connector clips oriented for a fixed input direction may not be able to cater to connector clips introduced at the clip supply channel in a different orientation without substantial hardware changes to the pick head to cater to this different orientation. It would be advantageous to provide a clip bonder with a pick head that can pick up and bond connector clips which are fed to the clip supply channel in various orientations and/or which have to be bonded in different orientations without having to modify the clip bonder to cater to each different orientation.